Differential heterodyneinterferometer is applied for measuring spatial thickness variations across glasspanels of liquid-crystal displays. This system uses the Zeeman laser as a source of two-frequency shifted orthogonally linearly polarized probe waves, passing through the glass in two spatially separated points. These waves are then recombined in a single beam to produce the intermediate frequency signal with the phase proportional to the thickness gradient of a glass sample. The phase of the intermediate signal is measured against the laser reference by means of a lock-in amplifier, and finally real-time integration provides the thickness variation. Since spatial separation of the probe beams is only good approximation for the thickness gradient is achieved. Detailed design of the interferometer and experimental results on real samples are presented.

A robust analysis method is presented for multiple-phase heterodynevelocimetrymeasurements. By combining information from three phase-shifted signals, it is possible to eliminate coherent intensity variations and incoherent light from the measurement. The three data signals are reduced to a pair of quadrature signals, allowing unambiguous calculation of target displacement. The analysis relies on a minimum number of adjustable parameters, and these parameters can be precisely determined from simple interferometer characterization.

An on-board sample cleaver has been developed in order to cleave small and hard-to-cleave samples. To acquire good cleaves from rigid samples the alignment of the cleaving blade with respect to the internal crystallographic planes is crucial. To have the opportunity to mount the sample and align it to the blade ex situ has many advantages. The design presented has allowed us to cleave very tiny and rigid samples, e.g., the high-temperature superconductor. Further, in this design the sample and the cleaver will have the same temperature, allowing us to cleave and keep the sample at low temperature. This is a big advantage over prior cleaver systems. As a result, better surfaces and alignments can be realized, which considerably simplifies and improves the experiments.

Although the multichannel Brillouin spectroscopy with an angular dispersion-type Fabry-Perot interferometer (ADFPI) becomes a powerful tool for quick measurements, its resolution and contrast are not enough for the study of single crystals. A highly sensitive multichannel detector enables the ADFPI to use a solid etalon with high reflectivity (99.5%); hence, the high resolution and the high contrast of a spectrum are achieved. The finesse, the inverse of the resolution, reaches 100 with a diameter of aperture size. The highest finesse of 140 is obtained by using a smaller diameter of . The accuracy is examined by the measurement of a quartz crystal. The improvement in the resolution and contrast enables investigations of weak attenuation in a quartz crystal. The elastic anomaly of the transition of a quartz crystal is clearly observed both in sound velocity and attenuation. From the elastic constant , the critical parameter is determined.